''Words of Warning to a Prosperous Age'' or ''Words of Warning in Times of Prosperity'' (), also translated as ''Blunt Words in a Time of Prosperity'', is a book written by
Zheng Guanying
Zheng Guanying or Cheng Kuan-ying (1842–1922 or '23) was a Chinese reformist active in the late Qing dynasty. The Chinese phrase "危言" (''Weiyan''; ) refers to upright speech, not dangerous speech.
''Words of Warning to a Prosperous Age'' was completed in 1892 and first published in 1893. In the book, Zheng suggested the establishment of a
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
and a
parliament
In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
and the adoption of a
constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy, also known as limited monarchy, parliamentary monarchy or democratic monarchy, is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in making decisions. ...
, pointing out that the root cause of the country's weakness and the people' poverty was
authoritarian
Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
politics
Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...
. He argues that "armed warfare" is not as good as "commercial warfare".